Mental health concerns caused 22% of worker absenteeism last year, a new report from HR professional body CIPD, in conjunction with the Kemmy Business School at University of Limerick, shows.
This is up from a rate of 17% in 2022.
The new report - launched at CIPD in Ireland's Annual Conference today - also reveals that for the first time, the level of reported mental health issues matched that of acute medical conditions, which also jumped last year from 14% to 22%.
According to today's report, 55% of those reporting mental health issues identified workload as a contributing factor while 47% reported a perceived lack of management support.
Meanwhile, 35% of public sector respondents mentioned that financial stress was an issue, compared to 25% in the private sector.
41% of those in the public sector reported returning to the office after remote working during Covid as an issue, compared to 22% of people in the private sector.
CIPD also said that ongoing skills shortages feature strongly in the report once again this year, with 91% of respondents pointing to this as a problem - a figure which has not dropped below 80% since 2021.
47% of public sector respondents reported significant difficulties with skills shortages, while 31% of the private sector said they had a significant issue.
37% of respondents also reported problems sourcing frontline and operations staff while 34% faced difficulty finding IT workers.
And 36% of respondents identified leadership and influencing skills as their top capability gap.
CIPD in Ireland's Director Mary Connaughton said the factors highlighted in today's report are concerning.
"These are significant findings and workplaces need to take action and reduce the risk of any negative impact of work on employees," Ms Connaughton said.
"We recommend investment in leader and manager training as a first step - this can be a potential game changer which could deliver cost savings from reduced absence and employee turnover, as well as improved worker well-being," she said.
"Organisations should also assess their messaging around disconnecting from work outside working hours to see if it could help tackle a long hours culture," she added.
